"I filled out the paper and I'm going": Jakub Mensík reveals referee's lunch break saved him from withdrawing from Miami Open

The Czech Republic’s young tennis sensation, Jakub Mensík, has revealed that he nearly pulled out of the Miami Open before his first match. The 19-year-old announced his arrival on the big stage as he defeated the former world number one and Serbia’s legendary tennis star Novak Djokovic to win the ATP 1000 title.

The final score of the match was 7-6, 7-6. While doing so, he became the first player from the Czech Republic to lift an ATP 1000 title in two decades. During his route to the triumph, Mensik defeated the 2024 US Open runner-up, Taylor Fritz, in the semifinal with a score of 7-6, 6-4, 7-6. The Prostejov-born star’s journey in the competition started with a tough encounter as he got the better of Britain’s Jack Draper 7-6, 7-6.

The 23-year-old was coming into the competition in red-hot form after winning the Indian Wells. Mensik spoke to the media after his famous triumph in Miami, where he revealed an interesting story. The world number 24 stated that he was just minutes away from withdrawing from the competition before the first after feeling pain in his knee. He revealed that he even signed the paper but could not submit it because the referee was not available because of a lunch break.

"I was like OK, well let's just visit the physios. I told them, 'my knee is hurting, I filled out the paper and I'm going,'" said Mensik. “The physio said let's see and he started to do a couple of treatments, he took care of it for like 30 minutes. He said it is nothing serious and you can play with this pain and nothing will happen.”

Mensik further revealed that he changed his painkiller, which helped him recover quickly. "I was really suffering,” he said. “I took a different painkiller, switched it up a bit and started to feel a little relief. It was 30 minutes before the match, I thought 'I can walk, I can run, let's see.'"